Saina Nieminen
Saina Nieminen
Advisory: contains much ranting.
A new Barolo, Pecchenino's Le Coste 2004 became available at our monopoly. Alko's description of it was promising so I decided to try a bottle: it speaks of Slavonian oak barrels instead of barriques so I thought, despite half of the wood being new, that it wouldn't really shine through in such big botti. So I opened it, stuck my nose in the glass and got a massive stench of toffee and overripe, raisiny fruit mixed with some banana aromas (did they use the infamous Lalvin yeast that Duboeuf used to use for Beaujolais?).
Thick, sweet (since when has young Barolo had sweet fruit sensations?), low in acidity (since when has young Barolo felt low in acidity?) and with rather too smooth tannins, so mouthcoating and velvety and powdery that I wonder if they really are tannins (since when...?). It left a strange taste in my mouth, so I went to a mirror and stuck out my tongue at my image. Much to my chagrin I found it laminated in oak. I should pour this wine on my floors as I'm tired of the material there.
So off I went a-Googling and I find out from the producer's website that it not only sees botti but barriques also.
Alko's description of the wine makes it seem like something more traditional with its mention of cherries and strong tannins. I'm assuming whoever made the descriptions for Alko wasn't being malicious in writing such misleading information - I am sure they were only utterly incompetent. Shame on you, Alko, for getting such incompetents who don't know what traditional Barolo tastes like to write up a spoofy example in such traditional terms, and for providing misleading information about the wine. And shame on me for actually trusting anything that was published on Alko's website.
A new Barolo, Pecchenino's Le Coste 2004 became available at our monopoly. Alko's description of it was promising so I decided to try a bottle: it speaks of Slavonian oak barrels instead of barriques so I thought, despite half of the wood being new, that it wouldn't really shine through in such big botti. So I opened it, stuck my nose in the glass and got a massive stench of toffee and overripe, raisiny fruit mixed with some banana aromas (did they use the infamous Lalvin yeast that Duboeuf used to use for Beaujolais?).
Thick, sweet (since when has young Barolo had sweet fruit sensations?), low in acidity (since when has young Barolo felt low in acidity?) and with rather too smooth tannins, so mouthcoating and velvety and powdery that I wonder if they really are tannins (since when...?). It left a strange taste in my mouth, so I went to a mirror and stuck out my tongue at my image. Much to my chagrin I found it laminated in oak. I should pour this wine on my floors as I'm tired of the material there.
So off I went a-Googling and I find out from the producer's website that it not only sees botti but barriques also.
Alko's description of the wine makes it seem like something more traditional with its mention of cherries and strong tannins. I'm assuming whoever made the descriptions for Alko wasn't being malicious in writing such misleading information - I am sure they were only utterly incompetent. Shame on you, Alko, for getting such incompetents who don't know what traditional Barolo tastes like to write up a spoofy example in such traditional terms, and for providing misleading information about the wine. And shame on me for actually trusting anything that was published on Alko's website.